The Chesapeake Bayhawks professional lacrosse team celebrated indigenous culture, including a well-earned hat tip to the team’s own Indigenous players Lyle Thompson, Onondaga, and Brendan Bomberry, Six Nations Mohawk on Saturday, August 10.
As that Saturday was designated as the Native American Celebration Game, the Bayhawks team recognized the origins of the game of lacrosse, known to many as “the Creator’s game,” during their match with the Denver Outlaws in Annapolis, Maryland.
Lyle Thompson (Onondaga) and Brendan Bomberry (Mohawk) were shrouded in ceremonial blankets during the Native American heritage game, as singers sang with a hand drum.
Members of the Bayhawks team also traveled to Suitland, Maryland, just outside of Washington D.C., to visit the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian Cultural Resources Center, according to a press release.
There, members of the team learned about indigenous items in the archives related to the game of lacrosse. They also met with representatives from the Maryland Commission on Indian Affairs, the National Congress of American Indians and the Piscataway Conoy Tribe Tribal Council, the Native tribe whose ancestral lands includes Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay region.
